LETTER: Vote Democratic to protect Medicare, Medicaid

Anne Burhans, Broad Run

Medicare and Medicaid were enacted in 1965 and are funded by a payroll tax deduction. Civilian workers and military members have been paying in for their entire working life and are entitled to benefits when they retire. The 2019 Republican budget includes a Medicare cut of $537 billion! Anyone who currently uses Medicare or who has planned to use it should be outraged. The bill also calls for privatization with a voucher to purchase private insurance. Is this what you bargained for? What happened to campaign promises not to cut Medicare?

The new budget has large cuts to Social Security predominantly affecting the disabled and has large cuts to Medicaid, predominantly affecting children, the disabled and low-income people.

The new budget also has major changes to the Affordable Care Act with cuts in subsidies, resulting in increased premiums and putting those with pre-existing conditions in jeopardy. The Medicaid expansion would be repealed, resulting in 14- 17 million people losing their coverage. There were empty campaign promises to do something about reducing drug prices. Medicare is currently banned from negotiating prices with pharmaceutical companies by the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. It ought to be easy to eliminate this ban, but repeated attempts by the Democrats have been blocked by Republicans.

If you are interested in reducing drug costs and keeping Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and ACA benefits for yourself or others who rely on them, vote Democratic on Nov. 6 and elect Tim Kaine and Leslie Cockburn.

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